Typesetting
Our core activity is typesetting mathematical books and journals for academic publishers. We restructure, enrich and copy-edit author sources provided in different formats/variants of TEX or word processors, check style for math, references, clean up and/or generate graphics, etc. We deliver XML/MathML, PDF, rich PDF, HTML, ePub, images for math and whatever else the client requires. All deliverables are generated fully automatically from XML/MathML.
XML — The Futuristic Document Format
Publishers rightly demand both PDF and XML from suppliers — PDF for ‘now’, and XML for the future. A problem with XML is that it is very difficult to check the content, because it cannot be easily ‘proofread’ like a PDF document. So it is imperative that when we generate the XML, we can guarantee precise fidelity with the PDF.
One and a half decade ago, we decided that the only reliable way was to produce the PDF directly and automatically from XML sources. This way, checking the PDF would be equivalent to checking the XML. We knew this would be hard, but it proved even harder than we thought, especially with heavy mathematics. Eventually we succeeded, and now every single page of PDF that we produce, even for the first proof, is generated 100% automatically from the XML file –– a true ‘XML-first’ workflow.
LATEX — Uncompromised Typography
Unlike XML first, some publishers insist for LATEX first workflow. This is mainly due to the presence of excessive math content which evades the fine typographic conventions of mathematical constructions if typeset from XML.
As LATEX is much more typographically sensitive and mathematicians prefer PDF generated from LATEX directly instead of going through the standard route of LATEX → XML → PDF.